Former Military Censor attacks Cabinet Ministers for leaking information

Brigadier General (reserve) Sima Vaknin-Gil, who was the IDF military censor during Operation Protective Edge, reveals her recommendation of opening an investigation regarding the leaks from the Cabinet to the former Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.

Today (Saturday), Former Military Censor Brigadier General (reserve) Sima Vaknin-Gil criticized Cabinet Ministers during Operation Protective Edge for leaking information. Vaknin-Gil even mentioned asking former Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to open an investigation on the matter, although that never happened.

“These leaks were not approved by the censor,” she said during a cultural event today. “I asked Attorney General Weinstein to open an investigation regarding the leaks during Operation Protective Edge, but he never did.”

Vaknin-Gil referred to the slideshow that was leaked to the media during the operation in which IDF officers warned the members of the Cabinet of the price of occupying the Gaza Strip. Despite the former censor’s recommendation and a petition filed to the High Court by the Movement for Quality Government, Weinstein eventually decided not to open an investigation. “This phenomenon, also in closed security discussions, is, unfortunately, widespread,” he wrote.

During the interview the former Military Censor made a comparison to another case in which details from a Cabinet meeting of a possible attack in Iran were leaked. “The difference is that when you spread something during the event- it causes much more damage,” she explained. “Therefore there is a difference between telling about something that happened many years ago and is irrelevant and Operation Protective Edge which was actually taking place. I thought that a red line was crossed. When our soldiers cross the border there is no room for games.”